updated 03:45 pm EDT, Mon June 22, 2009

WSJ on Moto Android Phones

Rumors circulating about Motorola's first Android phones received support today through a leak of plans for their launches later in this year. The Wall Street Journal cites its usual sources "familiar with the matter" as saying that T-Mobile USA will get one of the first devices and that it will be a touchscreen device with a slide-out keyboard and an emphasis on Facebook and Twitter. Most other sources already know this as the Morrison (pictured) and expect it towards the end of the year.

The newspaper claims that a second device is due for Verizon with a similar design. This in turn is believed to be the Calgary and may ultimately be a CDMA equivalent of the Morrison. In a new claim, however, the purported tipsters say that Verizon is "impressed" with the speed of the smartphone with Android. Outside of this rumor, it's also assumed to be shipping towards the end of the year.

Both phones are crucial for Motorola, which has seen a precipitous fall in market share over the past few years as its smartphone efforts have continued to dwindle and devices like BlackBerries and iPhones quickly outclassed its high-end media phones, none of which have run smartphone-class operating systems. [Morrison image viaMini-Suit; Calgary viaBGR]